This invention generally relates to the field of telecommunications and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for forwarding caller identification information to a called party.
Caller identification (ID) service and automatic number identification (ANI) are terms used interchangeably to refer to a telephone service capability which identifies the calling number to a called party. Caller ID service is currently offered on an intrastate basis and allows subscribers of the service, when they receive local telephone calls, to describe the telephone number of the calling party from the local exchange carrier (LEC). On the other hand, ANI is the billing telephone number of the calling party. ANI can be used intrastate as well as interstate.
During a call set up for a credit card, calling card, or other form of telephone call where the caller is not at a location from which the ANI can be forwarded, a network service center, disposed either in a LEC or an inter-exchange carrier (IXC) network, processes the call by looking up the caller""s account information to determine an account to which the call should be billed. Other examples of forms of telephone calls where the caller is not at a location where an ANI cannot be forwarded may include, but are not limited to, a caller connected to a private branch exchange (PBX), a caller calling from a cellular phone or a caller using an Intelligent/Agent. An Intelligent/Agent is a telephone service which integrates multiple services and utilizes voice processing technology for inbound and outbound calling, voice messaging, call screening, paging and conferencing.
Typically, once the caller""s information and account billing code are verified, the network service center establishes call routing and forwards the ANI for the call as derived from an originating central office toll switch. The central office switch most commonly used in the United States toll communication network is the # 4 Electronic Switching System (#4ESS) offered by Lucent Technologies, Inc. The #4ESS takes the ANI (typically the caller""s telephone number, but it may be the billing number) and the called party""s telephone number and sends the information to a network control point (NCP) that processes data and forwards the processed data to the called party. Alternatively, when the caller is calling, for example, from a pay phone, the caller""s credit card number replaces the calling telephone number as the ANI. The ANI forwarded for credit card and billing card calls is displayed to the called party simply as xe2x80x9cout of area,xe2x80x9d which fails to identify the true caller to the called party having a caller ID or ANI device. Accordingly, there exists a need for a caller ID or ANI that identifies a caller using a credit card, a caller using a calling card, a caller using an Intelligent/Agent service or any other system wherein the ANI associated with these calls is undisclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,572 to Friedes et al., incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes how a customized billing record may be created for a subscriber in a toll network and whether a calling party""s origination information (such as an ANI used in forwarding a billing number) is insufficient to affirmatively identify the caller. The information is obtained by a prompting device which solicits any additional information to delineate a more precise profile of the caller during the call setup and, if predetermined criteria of the toll network service provider are met, the service provider to the toll network allows the call to proceed. However, the method described by Friedes et al. only solicits information from the calling party to further route the incoming call and the solicited information is not displayed to the called party. Moreover, the caller has to supply additional information in real time in order for the call to proceed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,414 to Popke, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a system which uses ANI equipment and techniques and/or Caller ID equipment and techniques to provide a means for telecommunications to verify if identifying information such as a caller telephone number of the location where a caller is calling from is being passed to receiving parties. However, the system of Popke fails to disclose identifying the calling party when the ANI associated with the calling party is undisclosed.
Accordingly, the prior art systems do not display information adequately identifying a calling party when the ANI associated with the calling party is undisclosed. Consequently there exists a need for a caller ID device which displays the identity of the calling party when the ANI associated with the calling party is undisclosed or does not adequately disclose the caller""s identity.
The limitations cited above and others are substantially overcome through the method and apparatus disclosed herein. A method of the present invention determines whether ANI data received from a switch can identify a calling party. If the ANI data fails to disclose the identity of the calling party, additional ANI data stored in a database to further identify the calling party is retrieved. The additional ANI data is forwarded and displayed to the called party.
The above features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description taken into conjunction with the accompanying drawings.